My First Half (Cate & Kian Book 1)

by Louise Hall

  “Don’t you think you’ve had enough?” Nick said, coming to her rescue.

  “Think I have,” Liv said. She was really, really drunk. Cate hadn’t seen her with that many drinks but she must have got them from somewhere.

  As she walked off the dance floor, her shoe got caught on a piece of glass from the earlier confrontation and she lurched forward. “I’ve got you,” Nick said, catching her.

  “You’re cute,” Liv giggled.

  “Come on,” Nick said. He looked like he was trying really hard to frown but there was a smile creeping out.

  As they left the bar, he guided them both (Liv was still holding on tightly to Cate’s hand) in the opposite direction of the taxi rank. “Where are we going?” Cate said.

  “My place,” Nick said. “It’s just around the corner.”

  “No, thanks,” Cate said, tugging on Liv’s hand. “We’ll be fine, we’ll get a taxi.”

  “No taxi driver’s going to take her looking like that,” Nick said, looking down at Liv.

  As if on cue, Liv stopped and clutched her stomach. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

  As Liv emptied her stomach into the road, Cate realised that Nick was right. They couldn’t get a taxi and she didn’t want to call Kian.

  “Are you done?” Nick asked Liv and she nodded. Her face was green. “Okay then.” Nick lifted her up over his shoulder and started walking towards his flat. Cate didn’t know where they were and it was dark so she had no choice but to follow them.

  “Don’t look so panicked,” Nick said as he unlocked his front door. “I’m not going to chop you up into little pieces.”

  “I know,” Cate said, trying to be cool. Nick dropped Liv on the sofa and went to get pillows and blankets.

  Cate sat down on the floor at the side of the sofa and watched Liv. Nick wrapped a blanket around Liv’s sleeping body and then sat down in the armchair.

  “Does she do this a lot?” Cate asked him. Liv looked really peaceful when she was asleep, like she was a little girl again.

  “You should really ask her that.”

  Nick didn’t make any move to get up and go to bed and Cate was really tired. She couldn’t sleep with him sat there.

  After the third time she’d yawned, he said, “do you want to sleep in my bed?”

  Cate looked shocked, “I’m married.”

  Her expression made Nick laugh. “No,” he said, waving his hands at her, “I didn’t mean it like that, I swear. You’re obviously tired and you can’t sleep on the floor so why don’t you go and sleep in my bed and I’ll stay here and keep an eye on Liv.”

  Cate was really tired but there was no way she was sleeping in another man’s bed. “No, it’s fine,” she said, trying really hard not to yawn again. “You go to bed, I’ll stay with Liv.”

  “At least, sit on the chair,” Nick conceded. It did look really cosy. Cate got up and climbed into the chair and Nick wrapped a blanket around her. A few minutes later she fell asleep.

  The following morning, she woke with a start. She looked around and didn’t recognise where she was. There was a sinking feeling in her stomach, what have I done? She could hear somebody close by, it sounded like they were being sick.

  “Ugh, I’m never drinking again,” Liv came back into the room and fell back on the sofa. Phew, Cate thought, at least Liv’s here.

  “You always say that,” Cate looked up and saw Nick standing over them. Ugh, it all came flooding back to her.

  Nick gave Cate and Liv a lift home. “Too bright,” Liv sprawled across the backseat, covering her face with her hands. “Go to sleep, princess,” Nick laughed, covering her up with a blanket. “I’ll let you know when you’re home.”

  When they got to the house, Cate hadn’t even got out of the car when Kian flung open the front door. Cate could tell he was angry; he had every right to be.

  “Where the fuck have you been?” He roared.

  He looked past Cate at the car she’d just got out of and when he saw Nick in the driver’s seat, his eyes flashed dangerously. He couldn’t see Liv curled up on the backseat, snoring loudly; it looked like Cate had spent the night just with Nick.

  “Inside,” Kian growled at Cate. “Now.”

  “Just go,” Cate mouthed to Nick. He didn’t need to be told; he was already gunning the engine.

  The front door had just about closed when Kian grabbed Cate by the shoulders. “Did you have sex with him?”

  Cate felt like somebody had slapped her across the face, hard. “How can you ask me that?”

  “Answer the fucking question.”

  “No, I won’t,” Cate snapped angrily. She remembered sitting at the kitchen counter folding laundry while he was out celebrating his sister’s A Levels results. The same sister who’d suggested that Kian should get a paternity test done on their baby because Cate was such a humongous slut. He hadn’t even wished Cate good luck.

  She shrugged him off and ran upstairs to the bathroom. Ugh, she looked at the clock and realised that in an hour she had to go to work with Nick. She needed a shower.

  Cate was in the bathroom, just getting undressed when Kian stormed in. “Get out,” she cried, reaching for a towel to cover herself.

  “I need to know,” Kian demanded, taking the towel out of her hand. Cate stood there, naked and exposed.

  “You shouldn’t have to ask me.” Cate touched the wedding ring on her finger but it felt worthless.

  Kian looked her body up and down. He came closer to get a better look. Cate didn’t know what he was looking for but she knew he wouldn’t find it. “Did he do this?” he asked, pointing at a small mark on her thigh.

  Cate took a step back. “Kian, stop.”

  She could see the hurt in his eyes. “Did he?”

  Cate realised he wasn’t going to back down and she was just so tired. She looked down at the mark and she remembered the feel of his lips on her skin, the feel of Kian’s lips on her skin. It had felt so good. That he could even think that she would let another man touch her like that… Cate felt all of the anger slip away and she just felt sad. She grabbed her clothes to cover herself and sat down on the side of the bath.

  “I did that, didn’t I?” Kian said quietly.

  Cate nodded. She bit her lip to stop herself from crying.

  Kian got the towel and wrapped it around her but Cate couldn’t look at him. “I’m sorry”.

  Empty words, Cate thought. Kian held her face in his hands and made her look at him. He knelt down in front of her and she could see that he wasn’t angry anymore. He looked tired too, there were dark circles under his eyes and he had stubble on his chin.

  “I didn’t know where you were,” Kian said. “I thought something had happened to you or the baby?”

  I’m an idiot, Cate thought. She realised she hadn’t called or texted him to let him know where she was. It was this marriage thing; she still wasn’t used to it.

  He left her to have a shower and get dressed and when she came downstairs, he’d made her a mug of tea.

  The front of the newspaper had headlines about A Level results. “Are you sure you want to wait for them to come in the post?” Kian asked. “If you want to go and pick them up, I could come with you?”

  Cate wanted to laugh. Why couldn’t he have been like this yesterday?

  “What’s so funny?” Kian said.

  “Nothing,” Cate hadn’t forgiven him enough to tell him. “I’ve got to go to work.”

  “No,” Kian said angrily. “I don’t want you working with that guy, I don’t trust him.”

  “You don’t have to trust him,” Cate said, picking up her handbag. “You just have to trust me.”

  When Cate came out of work that afternoon, Kian was there waiting for her. But he didn’t drive her home instead they went to Mill Lake. When he stopped the car, Cate asked what they were doing there.

  “We need to talk,” Kian said, reaching for his wallet.

  “And we couldn’t do that at home?” Cate
asked when he came back from buying a car park ticket.

  “No,” Kian said. He came around to the side of the car, opened her door and Cate got out.

  They walked for a while along one of the paths at the side of the lake. Without knowing, Kian stopped at the same bench where Cate had opened her A Level results the previous day. He gestured for Cate to sit down. It was the perfect time to be at Mill Lake; it was still daylight and warm enough if you had a jacket. There was a sense of peace; the only sounds were the occasional barks from dogs enjoying their early evening walks. Cate stared out at the lake; waiting for Kian to say something.

  “About this morning…” Kian started to speak.

  A black Labrador came sniffing around their feet and they heard a voice shout, “Maeby, get over here.”

  Cate turned around and it was the same man she’d seen there yesterday.

  “Maeby,” the man called again but the dog ignored him.

  “Sorry about this,” the man said and reached for Maeby’s collar. “Oh hello again,” he said, when he saw Cate’s face.

  “Hi,” Cate said. Maeby looked up at her and she ruffled the top of her head.

  “Have you come down yet?” The man asked as he reattached the lead to Maeby’s collar.

  He meant her A Level results. Cate smiled at his kindness. “Just about.”

  “Congratulations again,” he said and headed off back down the pathway with Maeby following close behind.

  “Do you know him?” Kian asked. “Why was he congratulating you?”

  Cate took a deep breath. Despite the way he’d behaved this morning in the bathroom, she needed to tell him the truth.

  “You said you were going to wait for them to come through the post?” Kian said, after she’d finished.

  “I know”.

  “Fuck, Cate.” Kian got up off the bench and walked along the side of the lake. His shoulders were hunched over; his hands dug deeply into his jacket pockets. Cate waited for him to come back.

  When he sat down on the bench again, she turned to him. “Kian, please don’t be angry with me.”

  “I’m not,” he said. “Shit, I’m not angry with you.” He pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms around her. “If I’d thought for one minute you were going to pick up your results yesterday, of course I’d have wished you luck.”

  “I’m sorry I was such a bastard to you this morning,” he said, kissing her forehead. “Last night when I came home and you weren’t there… I can’t tell you all the horrible things that went through my head.”

  “I’m sorry,” Cate said. “I was a bitch too, I should have called.”

  They sat there for a little while longer, wrapped up in each other as the sun started to go down. “I can’t believe you got straight As,” Kian said, breaking the silence. “How did a smart girl like you end up with me?”

  Cate laughed, “you have your attractions.”

  “Oh yeah?” Kian’s eyes lit up. “Such as?”

  “You’ll have to give me a minute, I can’t think of any right now.”

  Kian pretended to be wounded. “What about my looks?”

  Cate held his face in her hands, “you’re not bad looking, I guess.”

  “My personality.”

  “I’ve known better.”

  “Oh you have, have you?” Kian pulled her up on to his lap. “What about this?” He gently licked her lips.

  She opened her lips to reply and his tongue slipped inside. Damn, he was good.

  “You have to admit I’m good at that,” Kian said, proudly as Cate struggled to catch her breath. She rubbed a finger over her tingling lips and had to admit that she was desperate for him to kiss her again. “Um, not bad.”

  “So, you don’t want me to kiss you again?” He teased.

  Cate shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t mind, kiss me, don’t kiss me.” Even as she was saying it, her whole body was screaming KISS ME in huge, capital letters.

  “Okay then I won’t,” Kian said, he lifted her up and put her back down on the bench. “Shall we go home?”

  Kian watched her eyes cloud with disappointment even as she said, “yeah, that’s fine.”

  “You really don’t mind if I don’t kiss you again?” he asked. He rubbed a finger gently over her lips and Cate couldn’t stop herself from whimpering a little.

  “I really don’t mind,” Cate said, although even she knew that her body was telling Kian something completely different.

  They walked back to the car park, which was deserted now that it was dark and had just reached the entrance when Kian tugged her back. He leaned back against a tree and pulled her towards him, so every inch of her body was held against him. “Maybe I do it better standing up?” he asked. Cate’s eyes widened and he laughed. “I meant kissing. Cate, you’ve got such a dirty mind.”

  Even in the dark, he could tell that she was blushing. He put a hand on her warm cheek and brushed his lips against hers. It was like an electric shock that she felt in every pore. She opened her lips, drawing him in. “Ugh,” he groaned as she sucked on his tongue, his hand fisted up in her hair.

  Suddenly a dog barked and Kian loosened his grip. “Let’s get you home,” he said.

  “No,” Cate whimpered. It felt too good.

  “Still think I’m just not bad at kissing?” Kian teased her.

  Cate shook her head, “you’ll do.”

  CHAPTER 32

  “Phew,” Chad flipped the sign on the front door of the Tavern to ‘Closed’. “After the holidays, I’m getting this snipped. No kids for me.”

  Cate caught Nick smirking as he finished counting out the till. It was two weeks before Christmas and he’d forced Chad to dress up as Father Christmas all day to entertain the kids while their parents shopped.

  Chad ripped off the cheery red Santa hat and pushed a tattooed hand through his Mohawk, making it stick up again. The matching red jacket was already unbuttoned and hanging loosely off his bony frame, exposing the thick ball of padding wrapped around his stomach. To complete the look he had on oversized black boots with little tinkling bells attached and fleecy red trousers.

  “This thing weighs a ton,” Chad moaned, patting his Santa belly.

  “Hey,” Cate nudged him, “at least you can take yours off at the end of the day.”

  Chad’s eyes lit up. “Maybe you should be Santa tomorrow; at least you won’t need any padding.”

  “Stop whining, you two,” Nick laughed. “Tell you what, if we’re all still standing after closing on Friday night, I’ll take you out for drinks at the Finch.”

  “That’s a monumental fucking if,” Chad grumbled, dumping the Santa belly on the till.

  “Hey,” Nick whacked Chad’s arm. “Watch your language.”

  “Shit, sorry,” Chad said quickly, looking down at Cate’s bump.

  “Don’t worry, she’s heard worse,” Cate smiled, thinking of her foul-mouthed husband. “Darn, I mean it’s heard worse. Ugh, he’s got me doing it now.”

  Kian was so convinced that they were having a little girl that he always referred to Cate’s bump as she.

  “I’ve got some stuff to finish up here, I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” Nick said, heading into the small back office.

  “Man, that’s cold,” Chad winced as he and Cate stepped out into the brisk December night. He pulled up the collar of his jacket and shoved his hands deep into his pockets.

  “You should have kept the Santa suit,” Cate joked. “All that padding would have kept you toasty warm.”

  “You would know,” Chad teased, looking down at her belly again.

  “Hey,” Cate swatted him. “Do you need a lift?”

  “Nah, it’s cool. I’ve got the van parked around the corner. See you tomorrow.”

  The pavement was slippery as Cate made her way across to the kerb, where Kian’s car was parked.

  “Whoa,” she muttered, just catching herself as her foot slid across a particularly icy patch.

  Cate quickly felt t
wo hands grip tightly onto her hips, steadying her. “Hey,” she smiled, looking up at her husband. “Where’d you come from?”

  Kian bent his head down and brushed his lips over hers. As he tried to pull away, Cate put her hand on the back of his head. “Not finished.”

  Kian smirked, “let’s get you home and then you can kiss me as much as you want.”

  “Are you sure?” Cate smiled back. “It’s going to be a lot.”

  “I think I’ll manage,” Kian winked as he opened the passenger door.

  He ran his thumb over her lips, making them tingle. Cate opened up, sucking his thumb into her mouth. “I’ll hold you to that,” she said, before nipping his thumb with her teeth.

  “Angel, you can hold me to anything you like,” Kian grinned.

  “So cheesy,” Cate laughed, covering her face with her hands.

  “You kind of walked into that one,” Kian laughed. “How was your day?”

  “Busy,” Cate said. As her back made contact with the leather seat, she tried really hard not to wince. She didn’t want to admit to Kian that her back was hurting again. He would take it as further evidence that she should quit working at the Tavern. He already thought she was pushing herself too hard.

  “Is your back sore?” Kian frowned. He reached across and carefully fastened the seatbelt over her bump.

  “It’s fine,” Cate lied. She kicked off her shoes and flexed her sore, swollen ankles.

  Kian raised an eyebrow; he didn’t believe her for a second. “Why don’t you check the glove box?”

  Cate opened the glove box and inside was a small tub of hummus and a plastic bag of carrot sticks. Ever since she’d found out she was pregnant, Cate had craved hummus.

  “You’re too good to me,” Cate smiled as she opened up the plastic container and took a deep breath.

  As they pulled into the driveway, Cate used her pinkie finger to get the last remaining scraps of hummus from the bottom of the tub.

  “I don’t know how you can eat that stuff,” Kian laughed.

  “Try some, it’s delicious,” Cate teased. She rubbed her finger over his lips. Kian’s eyes darkened. He sucked her finger into his mouth and swirled his tongue up and over the tip. Cate felt her nipples tighten uncomfortably inside her bra.